SideInstaller

Install SideStore and LiveContainer directly on your iPhone. No PC required.

SideStore and LiveContainer are currently the best way to sideload on iOS. However, there's one big problem: installing them requires a PC, which many people don't have. That's why I made SideInstaller, a free and open-source iOS app that installs them directly on your iPhone, no PC required.

SideInstaller handles the entire setup process on-device. It takes care of the pairing, provisioning, and installation steps that normally force you to plug into a computer and run desktop tools, all from a single app running on the phone itself. Once it's done, you get a fully working SideStore and LiveContainer setup ready to sideload your own apps.

The whole thing is built to be simple. There's no complicated configuration, no command line, and no need to understand how any of the underlying machinery works. You just open the app, follow a few steps, and let it do the rest. For anyone who's ever wanted to sideload but didn't own a Mac or PC, this removes the biggest barrier to getting started.

And because it's open source, you don't have to take my word for any of it. The full code is available for anyone to read, audit, or contribute to, so you can see exactly what's running on your device.

• An iPhone or iPad on iOS 27+ (iOS 17.4+ with a pairing file made on a computer; from iOS 26.4, a remote pairing one)
• Wi-Fi (first time only)
• Your Apple account credentials (not collected)

1. Open the official install page and install the app using any of the certificates.
2. Once it's installed, open it.
3. Connect the device to LocalDevVPN (or any alternative)
4. Log in with your Apple account credentials.
5. Tap Install SideStore or Install SideStore + LiveContainer.
6. Wait while your selection installs.
7. That's it. No PC and no extra steps required.

No install page, no certificate, no computer: two free App Store apps put SideInstaller on the iPhone they run on, signed with your own Apple account. You need iOS 27 or later, Developer Mode on, Wi-Fi, and LocalDevVPN connected.

1. Install rootshell and Open Minis from the App Store.

2. In rootshell, turn on Settings › Location Diary Mode › Session Only. Then run these in its local shell, one line at a time:

   curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FrizzleM/siboot/main/rootshell/bin/siboot-pair.wasm
   ifconfig en0 > ifconfig.txt
   ./siboot-pair.wasm

   Open Settings › Privacy & Security › Developer Mode, scroll to the bottom, tap Pair with siboot, and enter your passcode and the code rootshell shows. Leave rootshell running.

3. In Open Minis's terminal, run:

   wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FrizzleM/siboot/main/minis/install.sh | sh

   The first time, type the transfer code rootshell shows (after that, siboot uses the pairing file it saved and doesn't ask). Then type your Apple account email, password and verification code. Keep Minis open until it says it's done.

4. The first time, trust your Apple account in Settings › General › VPN & Device Management, then open SideInstaller.

How it works: this is siboot. Its rootshell/ pairs the iPhone with itself, and its minis/ signs and installs SideInstaller.

Once paired, siboot developer-mode in Open Minis asks the iPhone to show the Developer Mode switch in Settings, or with --turn-on to turn it on (details).

SideInstaller opens three kinds of sideinstaller:// link, and asks before acting on any of them:

• sideinstaller://install?url=<percent-encoded https link to an .ipa> downloads the IPA as the custom .ipa and installs it, for one-tap installs from a website.
• sideinstaller://pairingFile?data=<base64 pairing file> imports a pairing file. SideStore sends one back when asked with sidestore://pairing?urlname=sideinstaller, which is what Get it from SideStore on the Pairing file card does.
• sideinstaller://certificate?data=<base64 PKCS#12>&password=<password> makes SideInstaller sign with that certificate from then on, once Apple lists it among your Apple ID's certificates. Use SideStore's certificate (on the “A certificate already exists” popup and the Certificates page) asks SideStore for its own with sidestore://certificate?callback_template=sideinstaller://certificate?data=$(BASE64_CERT)&password=$(PASSWORD) (percent-encoded), so a free Apple ID's one certificate serves both apps. That reply is the one link that doesn't ask again: SideStore has just asked whether to export it.

Discord and most chat apps only make https:// links tappable, so to post an install link there use https://sideinstaller.net/open.html?url=<percent-encoded https link to an .ipa>. That page shows where the IPA downloads from and hands it to sideinstaller://install, with a button for when iOS doesn't open the app on its own.

Since iOS 26.4, the iPhone hangs up on lockdown pairing files (from jitterbugpair, pymobiledevice3 lockdown pair, or idevice_pair's Lockdown) as soon as they connect through LocalDevVPN, so they can't be used on the iPhone any more, however new. A remote pairing (RPPairing) file still works:

1. On a Mac, Windows PC or Linux computer, open idevice_pair and plug the iPhone in. Tap Trust if it asks.
2. Pick the iPhone, choose Remote pairing, click Create, and keep the iPhone unlocked until it's done.
3. Click Save to file… and send the file to the iPhone by AirDrop, iCloud Drive or a cable.
4. In SideInstaller, tap Import pairing file (or Replace) and pick it.

A pairing file exported from iLoader (Manage Pairing File › Export) holds both kinds and works too.

SideInstaller is built with safety and privacy in mind. The app is fully local and open source, which means anyone can inspect exactly what it does.

Your Apple credentials never leave your device. They're used locally, only to sign and install your apps, and are never transmitted, logged, or collected in any way.

No server, no analytics, no account. Nothing is collected and there's nothing to sign up for.

Fully auditable. Every line of it can be verified in the source code.

Signed builds and the install page live in FrizzleM/SideInstaller-Signed: it signs each release's IPA with every certificate, attaches the signed IPAs to a release of its own and deploys sideinstaller.net. No IPA is ever committed to either repository.

siboot, which installs SideInstaller from the iPhone itself, lives in FrizzleM/siboot. It builds this repository's vendored crates and rust-core's apple_session.rs and error_text.rs through a submodule pinned to one commit, so a change here reaches siboot only when that pin moves.

Issues and pull requests are welcome. If you're reporting a bug, please include your iOS version, the app version, and the step where it failed.

Every pull request is checked by the checks workflow: the Rust tests and clippy, a simulator build with the app's unit tests, and the translations (a string added to the app needs an entry in each ios-app/*Strings.swift). The same checks run on a Mac with scripts/test-rust.sh, scripts/check-ios.sh (in a clean clone, since it generates the Xcode project) and scripts/check_translations.py.

See LICENSE.md. In short: you may read, modify, and share the source, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes. Redistributing the official builds (IPAs) or monetizing the project in any form requires written permission.